“The King will follow Jeanne, and we the King.”
While this faith held, all went well; when the king ceased to follow, the
spell was broken,—the Maid was martyred. In this sense the poet
conceives the coming of Arthur, a sign to be spoken against, a test of
high purposes, a belief redeeming and ennobling till faith fails, and the
little rift within the lute, the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, makes
discord of the music. As matter of legend, it is to be understood that
Guinevere did not recognise Arthur when first he rode below her window—
“Since he neither wore on helm or shield
The golden symbol of his kinglihood.”